Former NASCAR Crew Chief Reveals His Thoughts for 2022 Season in Light of Major Changes

If NASCAR fans needed any more clarity on how will the 2022 season turn out, Mike Kelley is here to clear their doubts. Kelley is the former crew chief of drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Matt Tifft.

Kelley posted a tweet in which he explained his thoughts on the coming season.

He wrote, “Thinking about this next season in @NASCAR. This will without a doubt be the toughest both physically, mentally on the teams in my 25 year career. Won’t be an off-season, grueling schedule, crazy new cars, updates, vendors… signed up for the grind. Racersrace.”

Kelley is right when he says the changes will be the biggest in his 25-year long career. The changes are down to and surrounded by the new car.

The new car, better known as the Next Gen car, will bring forward the biggest changes in NASCAR in over 70 years.

The Next Gen car in NASCAR

The car will have new bigger center-locked aluminum wheels, independent rear suspension, bigger brakes, a new gearbox. The body of the car will be more symmetrical, made of carbon fiber panels instead of sheet-metal ones. This will result in significant reductions in cost and expenses.

For the first time, there will be a diffuser in the back of the car. This could be changed according to the track and different configurations. But the benefit of a rear diffuser will be more downforce, better aerodynamics, and hence, better racing.

So, naturally, these changes are tougher to adapt to for pit crew members. Joe Gibbs Racing Crew chief, Adam Stevens, explained how the coming changes will affect the way they approach a weekend as a team.

“The crew chiefs, the team guys, they’ve always been man and machine, and this is more transitioning away from the machine,” Stevens said.

“So, it’s not neglecting it, but it’s a stark contrast to how we’ve raced, and prepared to race, and grew up racing our whole lives.”

NASCAR recently announced that the Next Gen testing scheduled for mid-December in Phoenix has been moved to January. This was done to add testing at Charlotte in December.

Clearly, teams, pit crews, and drivers are all doing their best to test, adapt and enhance the Next Gen car and the changes it brings. Whether their hard work pays off, we’ll find out in February when NASCAR kicks off a new era in Los Angeles.

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